Travelers notebook: First-round leader Hoffman falls back to the pack

Updated 11:34 pm, Friday, June 21, 2013

TWO STEPS BACK: Don't tell Charley Hoffman that golf is a fickle thing. He knows it all too well.

After shooting a brilliant 61 on Thursday to take the first-round lead, Hoffman fell back to the pack with a resounding thud after a 3-over-par 73 that left him four shots in back of leader Bubba Watson.

The struggles started at the par-5 13th, Hoffman's fourth hole of the round.

With 229 to the pin, Hoffman hit his approach into the lake. The end result was a double bogey 7.

"I thought I could get it over the water," he said. "Actually, hit it right where I aimed, hit it in the water and probably should have been able to make a par or bogey after that but made 7. Obviously, that was the start of it."

After a bogey at No. 1, Hoffman tried to rally with birdies at 2 and 3 but stumbled again with bogeys at 4 and 6 to finish with that 73.

"I didn't play that much different. I just didn't make anything and just didn't get the ball up"'and"'down where I needed to get the ball up"'and"'down," Hoffman said. "All in all, shooting 3"'over and still being 6"'under, I'm fairly happy about that."

WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND: En route to his opening-round 69, Keegan Bradley admittedly he had trouble with his putter and 34 putts is a testament to that trouble. But en route to posting a solid 5-under 65 on Friday to climb higher into contention, Bradley needed just 29 putts to get around the TPC River Highlands.

"I finally made a few putts, even though I missed a hundred, too," Bradley said. "But today (Friday) was better. I had a good stretch of holes there in the middle, and could have been a lot better. I feel great. Today's 65 could have been 62 or 63 easy. So I'm really looking forward to this weekend."

If Bradley can keep the putter going, things bode well for a super weekend. Over his first two rounds, Bradley has hit 32 of 36 greens in regulation.

"That's a great stat," he said. "I wish if I'd just made a few more putts, we'd be in there."

But standing T6 after two rounds, thanks in part to big birdies at 17 and 18 coming in, Bradley is right "there."

"I was able to get a nice stretch there at the end," he said. "And on this course it's going to take just two or three good runs on this course and you're going to be right there on Sunday."

KIND WORDS: Still reveling in the aftermath of winning the U.S. Open, Justin Rose has been getting congratulatory messages from well-wishers all over the world. And on Friday he spoke of a very special conversation that he just had with one of his idols.

"The chat I just had with Tony Jacklin was a really nice moment," Rose said.

"Obviously, being the last English guy to win the U.S. Open (1970, Hazeltine), that's something that I think will be a part of my memories as I grow old, having had the chance to talk with him.

"A couple of other guys that I think really stay current, Gary Player and Greg Norman, whether it's me or whether it's the other guys, I always notice that they're one of the first people to reach out and they reached out to me after winning my first PGA Tour event and that kind of surprised me but it's just really good that they stay involved in the game."

SPURRED: When Patrick Reed finally turned off the TV around midnight, he settled down to a very short night's sleep, knowing that the alarm was set for 4:15 a.m. and knowing that the Miami Heat were celebrating their second straight NBA Championship over Reed's favorite team, the San Antonio Spurs.

"I'm a huge San Antonio Spurs fan and I stayed up all night watching the game," Reed said. "So just the fact that the alarm went off at 4:15, that was kind of miserable. I wasn't in a good mood."

Reed survivied his 7:10 a.m. tee time and fired a second straight 66 to leave him at 8-under 132 after two rounds. But that doesn't ease the ache of watching the Spurs lose to the Heat.

"I'm going to hate that they lost it in Game 6," Reed said, of the Spurs losing a late lead and falling in overtime, to set up Game 7. "They played extremely well and unfortunately, they had LeBron (who hit a jumper with 28 seconds left to give the Heat a four-point lead en route to that 95-88 win) and he made a clutch shot."

LOVE WHAT YOU'RE DOING: Davis Love finished his second round with three birdies in four holes. The problem was he'd dropped in a few bogeys earlier in the round, leaving him plus-1 for the tournament and below the cut line.

"Up and down" for the round, said Love, 49.

"A lot of good shots, but a lot of mistakes, too, which is what I've been doing lately.

"I'm making bogeys when I should be making birdies."

At least he's able to make those good shots. Love withdrew from the Phoenix Open in February and had neck surgery a week later.

Last year's U.S. Ryder Cup captain was off for three months before returning for the Players Championship.

"I lost a lot of strength in my left arm," Love said. "You can't get golf strength back unless you play.

"You've got to play holes," face the funny bounces and tough shots a player doesn't confront on the range.

He had made the cut in three out of four tournaments since returning from the injury, but he fell one shot short here.

FORD, GUIDRY, WATSON: Bubba Watson said there wasn't really any kind of hangover from the vicious U.S. Open at Merion, with high rough and higher scores.

"We're all so-called athletes, so we can all recover," Watson said. The Open, "it's just another tournament, with higher rough, obviously."

But then he was asked if he would've had any nerves on Tuesday had he not been rained out of an opportunity to throw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. Not a chance, said Watson, who grew up playing baseball.

"My dad wanted me to be a left-handed pitcher," Watson said. "He wanted me to play for the Yankees one day."

When Watson gave up baseball, "he was upset for a couple of months, but he got over it when I won for the first time."

So no, Watson said he'd have no problem tossing a baseball 60 feet, 6 inches.

"I said we were athletes," he said.

(Well, "so-called athletes," at least.)

ACE: Joey Snyder III's hole in one on No. 8 wasn't enough to keep him from missing the cut by a stroke.